LONDON, (Reuters) – England captain Andrew Strauss  voluntarily stepped aside as skipper for the Twenty20 World Cup  because his form in the shortest form of the game did not  guarantee him a place in the side, he said yesterday.

Strauss was omitted on Monday from a provisional 30-man squad for the tournament to be staged in England from June 5-21.  The squad will be trimmed to 15 on May 1.

Asked by reporters if it had been his decision to stand down, Strauss said: “Yes it was.

“Certainly they (the selectors) asked my opinion on it and I  felt quite strongly it’s not my strongest form of the game by  any means.

“I think whoever captains any team should be worth their  place in the side,” added Strauss, who was taking part in the  England and Wales Cricket Board’s official launch of the 2009  season.

“I had problems, I didn’t feel that I was necessarily in the  strongest XI of Twenty20 players in the country so if that was  the case it was wrong for me to captain the side.”

Strauss, 32, said the challenge of planning and preparing  for the Ashes series against Australia starting in Cardiff on  July 8 had not played a part in his decision.